This invention is directed toward an automatic skinning device and more particularly a skinning device that removes skin from the inside, front, outside and back side of a food product automatically.
In the meat processing industry it is desirable to remove the skin from meat parts like pork legs. Today this is done using a knife or a semi-automatic open top skinning machine. Not only does this method require substantial labor, but it also presents the possibility for lacerations and repetitive motion injuries. Furthermore, the present method results in yield loss due to the removal of lean in the process of removing the skin. Also, it is desirable to provide skins of varying thicknesses and sizes for further processing of the removed skin material. It is also the nature of open top skinning machines to leave skin patches needing to be removed later with a knife and further reducing yields. In addition, it is necessary on pork legs to provide as large a sheet of useable skin as possible.
Automated systems have been tried in the past to remove the skin automatically from pork legs and other meat legs. They have not been successful because they have approached the problem by attempting to remove all of the skin in one pass. Not only is this undesirable, but it also results in excessive skin patches. Another disadvantage of these machines is due to their inability to easily adjust the skin thickness to meet changing processor specifications. In addition, animal legs are round in nature which makes automatically removing the skin from them more difficult.
Therefore, a primary objective of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus to remove the skin from animal legs that improves yields and reduces labor.
Another objective is to provide a method and apparatus to remove the skin automatically in two steps.
A further objective is to have a method and apparatus to remove the skin automatically for both left and right hand legs using one machine.
Also, an objective is to have a method and apparatus to adjust the skin thickness easily.
These and other objectives will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the following disclosure.